No Butterflies
by BurningTheMidnightOil
Summary: A recuperating Knives, a very ticked off Meryl, and One jug of iced Ceylon tea..  Hints of VashMeryl.


For Girl. Interpreted,

Because her fic **After the Fall **is Kick Ass!

* * *

No Butterflies

He was sick of it, it was the same fucking thing every damn day and there was nothing he could to change it. He was angry; it burned and festered inside him building his hate and absolute loathing of _them_. Surrounded by those insects, these _spiders_ lying against the pillows, too injured, too weak, and too impotent to do a damn thing about it.

Hell, he couldn't even shit without Vash's help; Knives knew that _this_ was **HELL**.

His only source of satisfaction was through verbal torment, and enjoyed making the tall female spider cry at every opportunity; which was now practically non existent Vash had made sure of that, the bastard. The short female he had yet to crack and he had tried everything.

Knives knew she'd crumble eventually, as they _always_ did. It would merely took time; which was something he had too much of lately. It would bring him great pleasure to watch her break, all he had to do was find the right lever, or button to push and she'd shatter like that egg man from the stupid book of rhymes that bitch Rem used to read to Vash.

Knives raised his eyes to the door as he heard someone approach; footsteps, the soft click of high heels, on quiet groaning wood, and grinned malevolently the short female spider was foolishly bringing him food. He glared at the door when he the spider knocked,

"_Knives-san I brought your lunch. Vash thought you might want something other than soup_."

"_Filthy spider, I refuse to ingest anything you've touched_." He hissed.

The door swung slowly open and in walked Meryl holding a tray loaded with Ceylon tea and salmon sandwiches.

**Deep** breaths, she thought as she went through the mental exercises Wolfwood had taught her. He may have been a murdering, chain smoking, holy commandment breaking, gunman, and the universe's worst excuse for a holy man; but controlling his temper was something he'd been good at.

For all of his sins and faults, in the end Wolfwood had regretted what he had done and tried to be a good man; Knives never would. Meryl wasn't afraid of Knives, because Vash was here and Knives was not getting out of that bed for at least another two months. Vash had looked positively pole-axed, like someone had smacked him upside the head with wet fish and told him that Gunsmoke was due for a monsoon; when she told him that Knives didn't scare her.

Flashback

Meryl snorted loudly, "_Honestly, Vash what is he going to do besides glare and call me spider_? _It's not even remotely intimidating, merely juvenile and annoying_. "

Vash's dumbfounded expression changed to one of concern, "_Meryl you don't understand he's __**Millions**__ Knives, I-I just don't want him to hurt anymore people; especially you_."

She smiled brilliantly at him, "_That's sweet of you Vash, but I'm not naïve, and he is your brother, even if I don't like him; someone has got to take care of him. Milly can't do it, and you have done it alone for far too long. Let me help, no arguments Tongari_."

He opened his mouth to protest, "_But Meryl_…"

From seemingly out of nowhere Meryl produced a doughnut, stuffed it in Vash's mouth and kissed him on the cheek, "_I mean __it Vash no arguments_."

Eyes wide, Vash just nodded and said, "_Yes ma'am_!"

End Flashback

Meryl ignored Knives harsh glares, his mumbling tirade about spiders, and how he was going to kill them all, she'd heard better monologues from B movie villains.

So Meryl squashed her intense dislike for Knives and smiled she told Vash she was going to try and she damn well meant it.

This however, was getting older than that chicken joke about crossing the road,

"_First of all Knives-san, Vash made everything on this tray. Secondly, if you are going to insult someone do it properly; monkey is a much better word than spider as humans are from the family Homo, not arachnid. Thirdly, our dislike is mutual; I am doing this for Vash not you_."

She set the tray on the night stand near the bed, and gathered the dishes from this morning's breakfast, while Knives continued to give her dirty looks.

"_Why you insolent human filth how dare you speak to me like that, I am a superior being_! …"

Meryl sighed, she had tried, she really did... but Knives needed a wake up call, so she did what any other pissed off woman would do to an ungrateful brat who was wearing his ass for a hat; she grabbed the large jug of icy cold Ceylon tea and promptly dumped the entire contents over his head,

"_Are you quite finished being an idiot? As for being superior, that's debatable. You don't frighten me, there's nothing you can do to me and let's say that somehow you do manage to kill me; Vash will never forgive you. He hasn't forgiven you for what you did to Rem; the more you hurt Vash the more you hurt yourself. Don't give me that look, like I don't know anything about you; because I do."_

"_Vash told me **everything** and that includes all your bullshit about killing spiders to save butterflies. Let me tell you something Millions Knives, there aren't any butterflies, just spiders; some are just bigger than the others. You taught me that a long time ago, in a small town aptly named Tombstone; because that's all it was after you were done with it. _

_Milly and Vash are the only people left on this planet that I give a damn about; you murdered everyone else and in my eyes you're the biggest fucking "spider" on this godforsaken rock. So don't preach and patronize me with your saving the butterflies bullshit, because Knives not only are you a "spider" you're also a goddamned hypocrite_."

Meryl turned around and attempted to stalk out of Knives room but paused at Knives' voice,

"_I'll __kill you for this, you damn spider bitch_!"

Meryl turned, facing him and looked straight into his cold eyes,

"_Take a damn number and get in line. Enjoy your lunch Knives-san_."

She was so infuriated that she nearly ran right into a clearly upset Vash and a very shocked Milly. Meryl shut the door softly; as much as she wanted to slam it, it wouldn't solve anything. She tried to brush past Vash but he gently grabbed her arm, and Milly removed the tray of dirty dishes for her hands, heading for the kitchen.

Meryl's shoulders slumped and she whispered, "_How much did you overhear_?"

Vash pulled her to him enveloping her small frame in a tight embrace, "_I heard everything, why didn't you tell me Meryl_?"

She returned the hug; her eyes grew moist, "_What good would it have done Vash? It would have only upset you and you don't deserve that; my family would still be dead_."

He looked down at her and quietly said, "_I'm sorry_"

Meryl smiled at Vash then stood on her tip-toes to kiss him saying, "_Don't be. Let's stop by the bakery and get some doughnuts and coffee before my shift starts okay Vash_?"

Vash's eyes sparkled and his face had a happy, slightly glazed expression much like his favorite pastry, "_Yes Ma'am_!"

* * *

Author's Notes:

This was inspired by two things:

1. The aforementioned fan fiction: **After the Fall by Girl. Interpreted , **an absolute must read for any Trigun fan.

2. The fact that we never see or hear about Meryl's family in the Anime, yet there a many mentions of Milly's. Then this ferocious rabid plot bunny with HUGE SHARP TEETH attacked: how would Meryl, Vash, and Knives react if Knives had killed Meryl's family in the past ?

Edited: 09/20/2012 Wow, were there a bunch of sloppy grammatical errors in this that I have no idea how they got past my triple proof reads and spell checker. How embarrassing. .

Fixed errors, added Author's notes and other tweaks to improve the story overall.

Please leave a review, Thanks

-Burning**  
**


End file.
